


Let Snowflakes Touch Gently Thy Wintery Days

by AntaresofJuly



Series: Snowy Days [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Canonical Child Abuse, Episode: s2e03 Family of Rogues, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-09
Updated: 2015-11-09
Packaged: 2018-04-30 18:15:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5174207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AntaresofJuly/pseuds/AntaresofJuly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The siblings were standing amidst snow. They were so small, and they looked lost, a bit terrified, holding onto each other like that.</p><p>Happened between the events of Lewis Snart's death and Barry visiting Captain Cold in Iron Heights. Barry accidentally ran back in time to meet a 12 years old Len and 6 year old Lisa. (Yeah I imagined them to be 35 and 29 in present time.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let Snowflakes Touch Gently Thy Wintery Days

**Author's Note:**

> This was in my head for ever since Rouge Family. I just can't get away from the picture of little Len and Lisa holding onto each other in a vast field of snow, facing the "camera" with uncertainty, guardedness and determination. They had such hard lives.

Lewis Snart was dead. The only victim Barry felt sorry for was his killer. They had an arrangement, him and Cold. He could have avoided going to jail. But now...

He stayed with Cold until the police arrived. Gave the statement. Made sure they treat him fair. 

Then he went home, changed his clothes, and tried to go to sleep.

Only he couldn't.

He left Cold, Len, to the police, to be locked away in jail for a crime that hardly was. He felt unfinished. Queasy. Restless. With bundles of emotions tight in his chest, too much to just let go. 

So he did what he always did in such a situation. He ran.

At first he tried not to think at all. Just let the exhilarating sensation of winds brushing against his skin take over. Hopefully, releasing enough of the negative energy to get back to sleep. 

But his brain had its own agenda, and his thoughts were too wild to rein in. He could only run, trying to get away from the mess that was his own head. 

Maybe Cold had done the same too. Running away. He was an international thief after all, Barry remembered. Running around the world throwing his life into thrill chases. Until he came back to Central City, perhaps, thinking he was finally strong enough, strong enough and in control of his own life to stand against the man who once tortured him when he was a child. 

Only to had his "father" put a bomb in his sister's head.

Pulse quickened, Barry took a deep breath. He was becoming more angry. That wouldn't do. He ran faster.

His thoughts drifted briefly to Cold's nick name, and had to smile a little. Lenny... Who would expect such a cute nick name for the hardened criminal? For Mickey Mouse's furry friend maybe. But certainly not Captain Cold! It was a bit sad too, from the way Lisa Snart's voice broke a little when she said the name, "Lenny would never do that."

And she proceeded to show them the scar. Ugly and sickening on her otherwise perfect skin. He wondered how many more were unrevealed. And how many abuse scars her brother carried.

He thought about how Cold's voice had broken too, when he hissed at the dying man, his father, "not as much... as I hate you." Barry could never have imagined Lenard Snart, always calm and controlled, could be choking on his own words like that.

But Lewis was only surprised about Len working with the Flash, not a single bit sad that his own son had just killed him. He must never have cared, Barry realized. But Barry couldn't forget the way Cold suddenly went limp after the shot, staring at the man he had just killed. It was too easy to take the Cold Gun from his loosened grip. This affected him much more than it did Lewis Snart. Even dead, the evil bastard still had a lingering control over his son.

It was probably good, he thought darkly, that Lewis was dead. The control was finally broken. And Len, and Lisa, could finally be free.

In a moment of confusion he had asked why. "He broke Lisa's heart", Cold had simply said, "it's only fair I break his," but Barry could feel there was so much more behind the simple sentence. The anger, hatred, the still festering wounds, the defeat in his posture no matter that he was the one still breathing. 

Barry thought about the way Len *froze* when forced to point the Cold Gun at him, barely suppressed panic in the icy-blue eyes. It was too much.

So he ran faster.

He was probably going too fast, but he didn't want to stop. Couldn't care. If he stopped, he was afraid he would want to hit his head against some wall. And he hadn't done that for a long time.

He could understand though, why Cold didn't want to tell him more. Sometimes there were such horrible things one kept buried within. Didn't want to share. Didn't want the world to see, let alone your archenemy. He had knew that feeling too well. Right after his mother's murder, for an indefinite amount of time, he had shut himself in. Pretending to everyone else he was okay. But Joe and Iris was by his side, helping him, eventually pulling him out of it with patience and love. Besides, he was certain his father was innocent and that his parents had always loved him.

He had always have people. To become the Barry Allen he was today was as much his own doing as theirs. Who did Cold have? Had anyone protected him? Helped him? When Lewis was drunk beating shits out of him and his sister, was there anyone who tried to stop it? No children should ever be in such shitty situations, but the world was hardly fair, was it? He thought bitterly. And faster still he ran.

Until he stumbled. 

Barry blinked, barely kept his balance, and looked around. Where the heck was he? Or more importantly, when?

Snow was falling everywhere.

\-----

Lisa was happy. Not only because she had just won the first place in a regional children's skating competition, but that it earned her and Lenny each a sweet cone. It was such a rare treat; their father was actually in a good mood. Music was playing on the radio, snowflakes falling outside, they were almost having a good time. She was smiling so wide. So was Len.

Maybe they shouldn't. They should have paid more attention. That way, when the red car sped pass them, they wouldn't be caught off guard.

Their father turned sharply to the right to avoid collision, cursing loudly. The momentum of the sudden turn threw them to the left.

Lenny tried to grab her arm, steadying her, but it was too late. The ice cream had already fallen on the leather seat.

The new leather seat their father was so proud of that he had been bragging nonstop to his every colleague.

Lisa froze, cold dread uncoiling in her stomach. Now she hoped they had never got the ice cream in the first place. It was a trap, just like everything else that seemed nice in their lives.

Still cursing, their father turned back, and froze.

There was no motion in a long moment. Then their father's face turned an angry shade of red, and he billowed, "who the fuck taught you to do that, you messy, ungrateful brat?" 

Lisa stayed very still. She had already learned apology didn't work. The only thing that ever worked was to bear through it, like Lenny had said.

The senior Snart pulled over, got out of the car with a big thump, and yanked the door to the back seat open violently. Lisa and Len winced together.

"Get off the car now! You little shit. Stupid and clumsy just like your mother." He tried to pull Lisa out, but Len hid her behind him, blocking the access. "Thinking you are above punishment huh? Now that you got that shinny little award? Well seems it's time to remind you of some manners! Now get out of the way!" He barked at Len. 

Len hold Lisa tightly, covering her with his own body, shaking. "You wanna taste my fist first, boy? Fine!" He hit Len on the shoulder, twice. It hurt. Len bit his teeth, not making a sound. The space was too small to try to avoid the blows. Lisa grabbed onto him like death, sobbing. She was still too small. He was not letting the bastard get to her. Len stared at their father, and schooled his expression to show nothing. 

He tried to suppress the fears surging through him upon the sight of his father's raised fists, angry at himself for still getting scared.

He should be familiar enough with this now to still be afraid. Yet those shameful emotions still clung to him. More practice it was then.

Finally accepting he wasn't going to be able to drag Lisa out alone, the elder Snart snarled, and pulled both siblings out by heavily yanking on the boy's overgrown hair, and threw them both carelessly on the snow. They quickly stood up. Ice-cream smeared everywhere on the seat.

"Dare to defy your old man? Son, you should know better than that." He slapped Len on the head hard enough that he fell back, landing on his back on the snow-covered ground. Lisa scurried to his side, clutched his coat tightly, and burst out in tears.

"Useless," Lewis Snart's face twisted in disgust, "here is your lesson, children. You're gonna walk back from here on your own. Arrive home before dark. Or there will be consequences. Understood?" Once they nodded in obedience, he continued, "unmannered dimwits like you, it's the only way to teach you a lesson. You will thank me one day."

With that, the senior Snart turned to his car, and drove away without a backward glance, leaving his two kids in the middle of a snowy road outside the city.

Len slowly stood up with Lisa's help, still dizzy from the impact. He shook his head and blinked for a little while. Then he looked at Lisa, frowned, "stop crying, sis." But she wouldn't stop. So he signed and pulled her into his side, "look, we must be back before sunset. Now it's time to go."

"But..."Lisa sobbed, "but I don't wanna..." She sniffed, "...don't wanna go home."

Len wiped the tears off with the inner linings of his sleeve. "We have to, Lis, at least for now." He combed her hair with his fingers, and looked into her eyes with a seriousness uncommon for his age. "Lis, we have to tough up. If life is hard, we gotta be harder to win."

Then he picked her up, carried her in his unsteady, thin arms, and started walking.

Snow was still falling. At least this time they had got their cold stuff. Len thought, they were lucky.

\---

Barry was about to go and find some newspaper or whatever to figure out what time he had accidentally landed into this time, at least now he recognized where he was: in the middle of a speed way just outside town, when the yellow Ford came by.

He was about to let it pass and then start running, until he saw the driver, and he froze.

It was Lewis Fucking Snart, face flushed with rage and decades younger, but still him, no doubt. Intense anger rose in Barry's chest, and he chased after the car without thinking, without knowing what he might do after he caught him. Or what if the bastard saw him.

There were backpacks on the backseat, kids backpacks, and two ice-cream cones smeared on the seat. But no kids.

Barry halted to a complete stop. Cold dread filling his stomach. To his luck, Lewis didn't see anything.

\---

When Barry found them, they had already been marching towards the city for half an hour. 

They spotted Barry and stopped, surprised to find another traveler out there. The siblings were standing amidst ankle-deep snow. They were so small, and they looked lost, a bit scared, holding onto each other like that.

Barry didn't know what happened that could lead to an adult abandoning two children like this. Cold seemed to be about 12, and Lisa couldn't be more than 7. 

He stared at the kids. It was so strange, to think of this little boy with uncertainty in his eyes as Captain Cold, the man who never wavered in face of danger. But the boy, Len, stared back at him, warily, although not without a slight hint of hope. Lisa tucked safely under his chin.

They both looked up at him, and Barry felt his heart trembled.

No kids should have such sad eyes.

"Hi," Barry tried. Then, he was at lost. He wanted to offer them a ride, but realized belatedly he didn't have a car. So sould he just...

"Could I help you with anything?" He finally asked, lamely.

"Who are you?" Len asked, guarded.

"I'm Bar...err I'm Bear!"

Lisa giggled, still too young to have a long enough attention span to stay upset. "No you're not! No bear is that thin!"

Barry tried to smiled, a bit in panic, "No, no, no, you're totally right. I'm not a bear." Thankfully, an idea flashed up, and he went with it. "Actually, I'm a magician, bear is just my stage name. Bear the... the Magnificent. Wanna see a trick?"

"Sure!" Lisa yelled, excited. Len was till eyeing him suspiciously, confused at the situation, but a spark of curiosity lighted his clear blue eyes. 

"Okay, tell me where you wanna be and close your eyes."

Lisa's smile brightened, "any where? Big Belly Burger! I wanna be in Big Belly Burger!" And she closed her eyes promptly, assumedly giving the mysterious magician no time to regret. Barry looked expectantly at Len. The older sibling seemed torn, looking at Lisa and back warily at Barry.

"Comon! Lenny! What could be worse than freezing to death in the snow?" She begged, shaking his arm, eyes still shut. Len looked uncertain, but finally he closed his eyes too, taking a leap of faith with a stranger because he had no better option. 

It made Barry want to throw up.

But he pulled himself together. In a flash and little whirl wind, they were all standing in the alley outside Big Belly Burger.

The siblings stumbled and looked confused for a minute. Then, the next second, Lisa was screaming and jumping with so much joy as if the moon had just fell into her palms. Len's eyes also widened, but he bit his lips. 

"Shall we go in?" Barry smiled genially, the first time in this long suffering day.

"Yes! Yes yes yes!" Lisa bumped around, clasping Barry's hand, and pulled him towards the front door.

"How did you do that?" Len trailed behind, challenging, still suspicious.

"I, um, you know David Copperfield?" Barry scratched his head. Crap, he hadn't thought this through. But he didn't regret.

Len nodded.

"Well, we learn from the same master. Only I'm less experienced. It involved visual delusion and stuff. But I couldn't tell you exactly how we do it. That's a trade secret."

Len's face scrunched up in incomprehension, but he didn't press on, for which Barry was really grateful.

They walked into Big Belly Burger. Barry instructed the kids to buy whatever burger they'd like, when he suddenly realized one more embarrassing fact. He got no money. 

Did that mean he have to... steal?

"Bear?" a tiny voice sounded below. Barry looked down, Lisa was looking up at him with such hope in her eyes. "Could we get soda too?"

Len seemed to want to chide her for asking too much, but still, he bit his lips. There was a sad hope in his stance. And the last thing Barry want to do was to let it down.

So stealing it was.

He swallowed, he wasn't too far from his family home, but he didn't want to leave the kids out of sight, even just for a split second. And stealing from his parents was still stealing. So he went to the richest looking person and took out 20 bucks from her wallet, mumbling a soft apology under his breath. 

"Of course." He said to Lisa, who didn't even realize he was gone, fighting the shameful blush off his face.

Now what ground did that left him to scowl upon the Rogues for thieving? He guessed now he knew what it felt like to steal money to feed one's family.

Len had ordered a beef burger and Lisa ordered a Double Cheese, and of course sodas too. Barry added French fries and apple pies on top of that.

They find a seat in the back, away from the windows (Len's idea) and started eating.

Barry mostly watched them eat. They seemed content, but he couldn't forget the way they looked when he had just found them in the middle of nowhere.

He wanted to ask what happened; was Lewis Snart already treating them bad, but he was almost sure they didn't want to be reminded of that, and what good could it do anyway? It was not like he could stay here, protecting them. He would have to leave soon.

The very thought made him want to cry and break something.

"So, you are a stage magician?" Len asked. "If you are this good, how come we'd never heard of you?"

"Yeah..."Barry tried. "We traveled around the world... Only performing for the very important people. That's probably why you never heard..."

"You traveled around the world?" Lisa jumped in, excited. "Have you been to Paris? Is it pretty? And... and is magic real?" The last part was a whisper.

Barry smiled, he'd never been to Paris, but that was hardly the first or last lie he was going to tell today, "yes, I have. And it was a beautiful city, with beautiful people. Couldn't understand a word they said though. And," he leaned closer and pretended to whisper too, "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but yes, it is real."

Lisa squawked. Len rolled his eyes, but he was finally smiling too.

They spent the rest of the afternoon talking about places Barry had never been and magic tricks he had never performed. He told them about the local zoo, surprised they'd never been there. And time went by fast. The sky was already toning with pink.

"We should go now." Finally, Len said reluctantly. Lisa swallowed. "We have to get back before dark, remember?" 

"Yes," she replied, looking downward. Then she suddenly raised her head, and looked expectantly into Barry's eyes. "Would you take us to the zoo some time, Mr. Bear? It's not that far, like Paris." Len didn't speak, but he was looking at him too, his eyes finally open with hope.

Barry felt he couldn't breath; he couldn't speak. But he had to tell them; he couldn't give them false hope. He couldn't stay.

"I... There is nothing I want to do more than that, believe me. But... I'm... Our circus are leaving town tomorrow, to another part of the world. It's the world tour thing..."

Those large brown eyes was instantly filled with unshed tears, but Lisa nodded anyway, understanding. And the icy blue ones was shut down once again.

Barry took a shuddery breath, and tried for a brilliant smile. "But I think we'll see each other again, in time."

"In time." Len nodded somberly, as if a promise, not to Barry, but to himself.

He whiskered them to the front of Lewis's house, very normal looking on the outside. He smiled tightly and bid goodbye, and watched them went in, as nausea filled his stomach.

He stayed a little longer to ensure nothing worse was going to happen. And then, when all quieted down, he had to run.

What a cruel joke fate had played? Throwing him in their life randomly, but not allowed to make any difference? But he understood now, why before Lewis Snart was completely gone, the siblings couldn't really move on, couldn't think past survival, having to constantly look past their shoulders, preparing for the next blow, for the other shoe to drop. To change must be too hard.

No matter how organized and planned-to-detail Captain Cold was, he was not in condition to look into the future. Maybe that was the reason everything was a game to him. He sought the thrills to numb the despair that was his life. And Ferris Air suddenly made a lot of sense. He betrayed Barry because he did not want to hope.

But things could be changed now, with Lewis out of the picture. And Barry was gonna make sure of it.

He stopped in front of his home, present time, and smiled determinedly.

He was gonna pay Captain Cold a visit tomorrow.


End file.
